Sunday, April 14, 2013

Florida Vacation

On April 3, hubby and I started our Florida vacation. We flew to Tampa with my hubby's cousin to join him with his condo search. We also were able to visit with my hubby's sister who is now a snow bird living near Tampa part of the year. These are some scenes from our Tampa Bay hotel and from my SIL's new neighborhood.

At the beginning of our Florida vacation we stayed at the Best Western Bay Harbor hotel, we had a great room with a balcony over looking the bay. I guess you know me by now and that I had a great time checking out the birds from our balcony. It was fun watching the pelicans dive for food right from our room, also seen were the Great Blue Heron, Laughing Gulls, ducks and some shorebirds.

A view of Tampa Bay from our balcony.

A few Brown Pelicans in the Tampa Bay.

I believe there was a nightclub across the water from our hotel, I thought the reflections were pretty at night.

The mosaic above included birds seen at the wetlands in my SIL's neighborhood. I would love to live in one of the houses facing these wetlands.

Above, is a cool scene for a birder. a Belted Kingfisher and a Sandhill Crane in the same shot.

I saw around 5 Sandhill Cranes walking around the wetlands and golf course in my SIL's neighborhood. I hope the birds were safe with the golf balls flying around.

This is just the start of my vacation, we started off with some real estate hunting and then we parted ways with hubby's cousin and continued our vacation down Florida's gulf coast.

Thanks for stopping by my post and I always appreciate your comments.
Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit Mosaic Monday and more from Our World Tuesday
Thanks
to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the
hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia,
Sandy and Jennifer. Thanks
also for stopping by to see my post. I wish everyone a happy week!

Wonderful photos Eileen and that one of the Sandhill Crane with all the golf balls was a hoot. I also want to thank you for introducing us to Bombay Hook. Gregg and I took a trip up there last week and we had a fabulous time. What a place!!!!

Now I'm really jealous Eileen. A holiday and birding in the sunshine state, even birding from the hotel room. Wonderful. That's an amazing shot of a Snadhill Crane And a Belted Kingfisher in the same frame. Enjoy yourselves.

Beautiful photos, as always, Eileen. Real estate hunting .... hmmm.... sounds like fun! I wonder if it is still very reasonable down there. I know people who just literally walked away from their condos as they lost so much value, while others were grabbing them for $9,000! Not me, though, unfortunately xo

Eileen, I've never even heard of a brown pelican. And this is a first sighting (for me, through your images) of the Sandhill Crane. I love the colours on the water. Very creative photos. Enjoy your vacation. Jo

Be sure to check out Santa Maria Island outside of Tampa. My girlfriend lived there for years. Away from the hustle and bustle of Tampa. The peacocks run around wild. We would breakfast on the jetties, next to the water! Lovely area!!

It looks as if your vacation got off to a great start with plenty of birds in the wetlands and beautiful scenes from your hotel. I really like your night shot with the lights reflected on the water of the bay.

Hi Eileen Fantastic! So far, I love Florida! I live in the center of the state near I-75 up North of Tampa a ways. Weather seems good here. So happy you have seen those Sand Hill Cranes (I have not yet here in FL). Have an especially nice day tomorrow!

Looks like Tampa is a great place to visit for birders. The crane on the golf course made me smile. I lived and taught school in the Clearwater-St. Pete-Tampa area many years ago. Spent many weekends exploring the area because so different from my mountains. Hope your vacation continues to be most enjoyable and can't wait to see what you discover in FL's bird world.

I always love a room with a view - and it seems like you had a wonderful view from your hotel. Always lovely to go travelling with you Eileen. Have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Great views from your room and you saw many of my favorite Florida birds. The rehab place in Sarasota that I posted about recently makes prosthetic legs for sandhills that have been hit by golfballs . They said it happens a lot.

Translate

About me

I am married and have one son in his 20's. I live in Maryland, USA. Retired since Dec 2014 My hobbies are traveling, hiking, birding, taking photos and anything nature related.
Contact:eileen.inmd@gmail.com

WELCOME

Hello & welcome to Viewing Nature with Eileen

According to blogger rules I must share this info.

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to help meet these regulations. The notice lets visitors know about Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies on your blog, including Google Analytics and AdSense cookies.